Coupling of defect fields to electrical domains in ferroelectric films with dead layers and charged defects

Abstract

We analyze the effect of charged defects on the electrical domains, phase transition characteristics and electrical properties of ferroelectric thin films with thin dead layers using a non-linear thermodynamic model. Depending on the density and field strength of the point charges, the defects can pin and couple to electrical domains in the film. For ultrathin films, depolarizing effects dominate and the transition from the paraelectric state is into the multidomain ferroelectric state during cooling and is strongly smeared. The competition between defect induced extrinsic effects and the dead layer related limit is discussed.